HometownSource Blogs

Twins deal Santana for prospects

New Minnesota Twins General Manager Billy Smith should’ve looked all bright and spiffy Wednesday. The New York Mets took him to the cleaners Tuesday when they obtained baseball’s best pitcher from Minnesota for four “prospects.” Maybe Smith was delirious after extending the contracts of first baseman Justin Morneau and right fielder Michael Cuddyer last week. Those were great moves. The deal with the Mets stinks.

For Johan Santana, the Twins received outfielder Carlos Gomez and pitchers Phil Humber, Deolis Guerra and Kevin Mulvey. I’ve got as much major league experience as Guerra and Mulvey (none) and Humber only outnumbers me by five games.

In describing the trade with the Mets I’ll borrow from one of the great orators of our time, Denver Nuggets guard Allen “The Answer” Iverson.

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Jessica Harper’s story at ThisWeek Online includes the sentiment of National Guard Maj. Michael Murray, a sentiment common to returning veterans:

Murray said he is often frustrated when the mainstream media refrains from telling the positive stories in Iraq.

“People (in the United States) saw the civilians killed when a mosque was attacked in Habinea, but they didn’t see the 300-plus soldiers donating blood to save the victims,” Murray said.

We’re going to hear a lot more of this as troops come home in increasing numbers.

We all know what the world would have been like without George Bailey.  Have you ever imagined a world without Eddie Van Halen?  This is it.   [via  clusterflock]

“Climate change,” as it’s referred to November through March, is getting far worse, far quicker, than anyone could have imagined, says Al Gore:

Recent evidence shows “the climate crisis is significantly worse and unfolding more rapidly than those on the pessimistic side of the IPCC projections had warned us,” climate campaigner and former US vice-president Gore said.

Or not, according to a graph of actual temperature measurements. Gore must be feeling the heat of 2008’s bold prediction. In other news, while warming predictions have routinely failed, alarmism predictions are increasingly accurate:

…the assertion that “the science is settled” in a field the public is coming to understand is both immature and quickly evolving, is triggering growing public skepticism. Alarmists respond by upping the ante, making even more extreme and nonsensical forecasts…

Fifteen days from prediction to reality.

Sacred Heart University has released a media poll. Here’s a summary:

- Only 19.6 percent say they “could believe all or most” of media reporting, down from 27.4 in 2003

- 87.6 percent believe media tries to affect public opinion, and 86 percent that it tries to affect public policy, up from 79.3 and 76.7 in 2003, respectively

- The highest percentage for national news media was 40.7 for “quality of reporting.” Accuracy was 36.8, keeping bias out 33.3, fairness 31.3, and balance 30.4.

- Four-to-one see the New York Times and NPR, three-to-one journalists and broadcasters as a whole, and two-to-one CNN and MSNBC, as “mostly or somewhat liberal.” Fox was the only poll subject to be viewed as “mostly or somewhat conervative” by a rate of just over two-to-one.

- The three top ratings for “most trusted for accurate reporting” were Fox News at 27 percent, CNN at 14.6, and NBC at 10.9. Fox News and CNN have flip-flopped since 2003, when CNN got 23.8 and Fox only 14.6.

The results for reporting on Iraq are even more dismal:

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I heard a sound bite from Senator Steve Murphy this morning, and he said in no uncertain terms that he believes the NTSB is involved in a conspiracy to protect the governor. As evidence of this, he notes that the timing of its report just happens to fall around the same time as the governor’s transportation package.

And he was serious.

This is what happens when you get so invested in a theme that turns out to be ridiculous. You are forced to see it through, no matter what evidence surfaces to the contrary. It’s why when a general gives a positive report on Iraq, he must be a Bush puppet; why when someone criticizes global warming, they must be a shill for Big Oil.

Murphy plans to wait for the results from a private firm hired by the legislature to investigate the I-35W bridge collapse. Interesting to note that, while, for folks like Murphy, any information that goes against the politically motivated conclusions already reached is a conspiracy, the opposite is never true.

Well, the NTSB has, at long last, released the results of its I-35W bridge collapse investigation. And the verdict is…

Design error, undetectable in routine inspections.

Not Iraq (Senator Klobuchar), not Pawlenty’s “no tax pledge” (Nick Coleman), not for the lack of five more cents in federal gas taxes (Congressman Oberstar), nor was it corporate greed, Karl Rove and Co., or global warming. Much to the chagrin of many, I’m sure, it’s not Carol Molnau’s fault either. I hate to say it Don, but it wasn’t even a sign of a broken year.

It was simply a design flaw. Likely compounded by the 300 tons sitting on top of weak gussets.

I suppose, in keeping with the theme established by so many (not you Don) over the last six months, the blame for the bridge collapse would have to fall on Karl Fritjof Rolvaag, who likely oversaw the original project as Minnesota governor from 1963 to 1967. Well, him and LBJ.

In all seriousness, politicians, editors, and columnists have been playing the blame game, and trying to eek out political gain from the tragedy, ever since the bridge went into the drink; with Pawlenty and Molnau as the primary scapegoats. They were 7- and 18-years of age, respectively, when the bridge was built.

In an honest world there would be an outpouring of apologies and contrition from offenders. Of course, were they honest brokers in the first place, they likely wouldn’t have chosen the route they did.

Continuing on the theme from last week, Time Magazine is now wondering if the late bickering between Obama and Clinton are a sign of something deeper:

After the past few days, the pertinent question to ask is, is the crack-up happening already? Far-fetched as it would have seemed a month ago, the seeds of self-destruction are being planted in the war of coded words about race between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. The bickering has exploded in the space of a week into Topic A in the Democratic race, supplanting for the moment the war and the economy and health care — and shows no sign of a quick resolution.

In a party in which the activists live by the sword, it’s looking more and more like the candidates who are dying by it.

At the time, those of us who dared to suggest the Lancet study (claiming 650,000 casualties in Iraq) was bogus and rife with evidence of partisan hackery were roundly criticized. Wrongly, in hindsight:

It turns out the Lancet study was funded by anti-Bush partisans and conducted by antiwar activists posing as objective researchers. It also turns out the timing was no accident. You can find the fascinating details in the current issue of National Journal magazine, thanks to reporters Neil Munro and Carl Cannon. And sadly, that may be the only place you’ll find them.

Naturally, where you find “anti-war activists” engaged in dirty tricks, you will find George Soros. That the Lancet study, which - on the eve of the 2006 election - claimed 10 times the amount of generally accepted casualty numbers, is now completely discredited, presents major issues for media outlets that reported the estimates.

Thus far though, those that hyped the study remain predictably silent. As the Wall Street Journal editorial notes, the truth, in this case, appears “irrelevant.”

I spent a number of months in France in the early 90s and one of the things I miss to this day was that pharmacists were licensed to diagnose minor illnesses (pink eye, nausea, ear infections, the flu, etc.) and prescribe remedies. If one had a minor medical issue that required a prescribed remedy, they needed simply mosey (or sache in this case) on down to the local pharmacy.

No clinic visits. No waiting rooms. No co-pays. No “(not at all) urgent care.”

On the home front, we have used Wal-Mart’s eye clinic with extremely satisfactory results over the last couple of years. It’s fast. It’s cheap. It’s staffed by friendly professionals. I only learned recently that, in many locales, Wal-Mart is offering full-blown clinics. Here’s a list of services, it’s pretty impressive. It’s also receiving rave reviews similar to our experiences with the eye clinic.

Others, like Walgreens and CVS are following this trend, opening clinics that offer cheap, cheery, care with no waiting. But CVS’s plans are meeting stiff opposition from Boston Mayor Thomas Menino:

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More subject matter on the post below, Steve Huntley writing in the Chicago Sun Times:

Though the respective celebrations over Barack Obama’s Iowa win and the resurrection of Hillary Clinton’s campaign at first obscured signs of trouble, it has become apparent that together they inflicted wounds that may be difficult to heal.

Huntley concludes that the “undertone” of race and gender could “alienate blacks or women.” The penchant for labeling by the left wing of the Democratic Party, coupled with the now famous “Clinton machine,” promises to make this race a lot messier in the days to come.

UPDATE: Kaboom!

Via Dan Riehl: Wow. The far left sites are reeling from the New Hampshire results, and the claws are out. Clinton and Obama supporters are taking after each other with the vitriol usually reserved only for conservatives.

Hillary supporters are racist. Obama supporters are sexist. Over and over and over again.

They’re even dragging poor Diebold and charges of election fraud into it.

Chris Matthews (an obvious Obama supporter) is getting in on the act as well, saying “palefaces” lied to pollsters and then voted white.

One of the least attractive elements of the far left has always been how easily they are reduced to name calling. Racist! War-mongerer! Jackboot! As a conservative, I’ve always found it crass, disrespectful, and unbelievably rude and childish. So, I must admit, it gives me at least some semblance of satisfaction to know that, in the absence of conservatives, they appear more than happy to turn on each other.

UPDATE: Another day, another chance to erode confidence in the process. Hillary says caucuses “disenfranchises” voters, and Dennis Kucinich wants a recount in New Hampshire.

IMPORTANT ENDORSEMENT ANNOUNCEMENT FOLLOWS:

I have decided that, at this point, trying to best determine a viable presidential candidate based on the good they can do for this country is aiming way too high.

For now, I will instead start looking for the candidate who will do the least amount of damage to the nation.

THIS CONCLUDES THE IMPORTANT ENDORSEMENT ANNOUNCEMENT.

The AP has a story on the dismal Education Week ranking (D+) Minnesota teachers received. View the report for Minnesota, or make state by state comparisons here.

Despite the fact that Minnesota’s per-pupil spending is over $1,000 above the national average (adjusted for regional cost differences), and students have a “B+” “chance for success,” I predict that the performance in the area of teacher quality will be blamed almost entirely on a lack of funding.

If recent history is any indication, it will follow that the only way to improve teacher quality will be to increase that funding. Because, you see, it’s not that education is making poor use of resources, or that the state has failed at making teachers accountable. It’s we, the taxpayers, that need to do more.

Then again, who knows? I could be wrong. But I doubt it.

NBC’s Brian Williams on Barack Obama, yesterday at noon:

I interviewed Lee Cowan, our reporter who covers Obama, while we were out yesterday and posted the interview on the web. Lee says it’s hard to stay objective covering this guy. Courageous for Lee to say, to be honest. The e-mail flood started out we caught you guys, we never did trust you. That kind of thing. I think it is a very interesting dynamic. I saw middle-aged women just throw their arms around Barack Obama, kiss him hard on the cheek and say, you know, I’m with you, good luck. And i think he feels it, too.

NBC’s Brian Williams on bias, yesterday evening:

Lee was talking about the swirl of excitement that has hit the Obama campaign after Iowa — the crowds, the hoopla — all of it. Today we learned that rival political efforts were spinning this as some kind of “bias” on the part of either Lee, or me, or this News Division, and that’s just ridiculous.

So, if I understand this correctly, it was “courageous” for Cohen to note his struggles with objectivity, but for others to do the same is “ridiculous.”

Got it.